]]>SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket made its sixteenth launch Sunday, carrying a pair of commercial communications satellites in the company’s first dual launch to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Falcon departed at the first attempt from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at the start of a 44-minute window that opened at 22:50 local time (03:50 UTC).Falcon 9 Launch:

Derived from the BSS-702 (formerly HS-702) platform which Boeing inherited in its 2000 merger with part of the Hughes Aircraft Company, the 702SP is optimised for dual launch operations, thereby reducing the costs of launch.

Hughes introduced the 702 series in the late 1990s to replace the HS-601 bus. The first spacecraft to launch was PanAmSat’s Galaxy 11 in December 1999.

The first six spacecraft were equipped with mirrors to increase the amount of light focussed onto their solar arrays, however a design fault was subsequently discovered with these mirrors fogging in orbit and reducing the amount of power available to the spacecraft.

Following a redesign of its solar panels BSS-702 launches resumed in 2002. The standard BSS-702 has since been redesignated the 702HP, with a smaller 702MP configuration being introduced in 2009.

The 702SP has a significantly reduced mass compared to its predecessors, enabling two spacecraft to be launched by rockets which would normally only be able to carry one.

The mass savings have primarily been achieved through the use of electric propulsion for orbit-raising manoeuvres which eliminates the need to carry a chemical apogee motor or the propellant which accounts for a significant portion of the launch mass of most geosynchronous spacecraft.

The spacecraft are also designed to stack atop each other, eliminating the need for an adaptor such as the SYLDA used by Arianespace to separate dual payloads on its Ariane 5 vehicle.

Asia Broadcast Satellite and Mexican operator Satélites Mexicanos (SATMEX) were Boeing’s launch customers for the 702SP, ordering two spacecraft each. SATMEX’s orders were transferred to Eutelsat when the two companies merged last January.

Formed in 1997 when Mexico privatised its satellite communications, SATMEX took over operation of the country’s Morelos and Solidaridad spacecraft. The next year saw the launch of SATMEX-5, formerly Morelos 3, to replace the Morelos 2 satellite. Two further spacecraft, SATMEX-6 and SATMEX-8 were launched in 2006 and 2013 respectively.

Eutelsat intend to operate their Eutelsat 115 West B spacecraft at a longitude of 114.9 degrees west, where it will replace the ageing Eutelsat 115 West A satellite. Another former SATMEX spacecraft, 115 West A was launched as SATMEX-5 in December 1998 and 115 West B, which was to have been named SATMEX-7 before its acquisition by Eutelsat, had been intended to replace it from the outset.

Replacement of the 16-year old spacecraft had been delayed following the cancellation of the contract for the original SATMEX-7 spacecraft, which was to have been built by Space Systems/Loral for a 2011 launch.

The Eutelsat 115 West B spacecraft is equipped with 46 transponders – 12 in the C band and the remainder in the Ku band, to provide coverage of the Americas including rural parts of Canada and Alaska. In contrast ABS-3A carries a payload of 24 C and 24 Ku band transponders for providing communications to the Middle East and Africa.

Destined for an orbital slot at 3 degrees West, ABS-3A will replace the ABS-3 satellite which has been operating in its slot since 2011.

Formerly operated by Philippine company Mabuhay as Agila 2, ABS-3 was acquired by Hong Kong’s Asia Broadcast Satellite Limited in a 2009 merger, initially being operated at 5 degrees West as ABS-5.

Launched by a Chinese Chang Zheng 3B rocket in August 1997, the satellite exceeded its design life in 2012.

The combined payload has a mass of 4,159 kilograms (9,168 pounds). The 1,954-kilogram (4,307 lb) ABS-3A spacecraft is stacked on top of the 2,205-kilogram (4861 lb) Eutelsat 115 West B. Both spacecraft are designed for at least fifteen years of operation.

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SpaceX launched the two satellites for Boeing and their operators, using its Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket. The rocket is carrying the spacecraft into a supersynchronous transfer orbit to minimise the delta-v the spacecraft will require to perform orbit raising manoeuvres.

Ahead of Sunday’s launch, the Falcon 9 was powered on around 12:50 local time (17:50 UTC). Three hours before SpaceX began to load fuel into the rocket’s tanks, beginning with its RP-1 propellant.

The oxidiser, liquid oxygen, began to be loaded at the two hour, thirty-five minute mark, with initial tanking of both propellant and oxidiser completed by the time the countdown reached an hour and a half before launch.

As the cryogenic liquid oxygen boiled off it was vented from the rocket and the tanks continued to be topped up throughout the countdown.

The terminal countdown began ten minutes before launch, with an automated sequence beginning as control of operations was transferred to the rocket’s onboard computers.

Retraction of the Strongback structure, used to erect and support the Falcon at its pad, began around four minutes and forty seconds ahead of liftoff, with arming of the rocket’s flight termination system beginning three minutes and fifteen seconds ahead of time.

At the two minute mark in the countdown both the SpaceX launch director and the US Air Force Range Control Officer (RCO) for the Eastern Range gave their final approval for the launch to take place.

In the final minute of the countdown the rocket conducted a series of final prelaunch checks under the command of its flight computers. The pad water deluge, or “Niagara”, system was activated and the vehicle’s propellant tanks were pressurised.

Three seconds before launch the first stage’s nine Merlin-1D engines ignited and begin to ramp up thrust.

Arranged in an octagonal “OctaWeb” configuration with eight outboard engines distributed around a central or inboard motor, the Merlins provided the thrust to propel the Falcon from its pad and on the first leg of its journey into orbit.

Around fifteen to twenty seconds after lifting off, the Falcon executed a series of manoeuvres to establish itself on course for its planned low-inclination orbit.

Flying East over the Atlantic Ocean the vehicle reached a speed of Mach 1 around 73 seconds after liftoff, passing through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or max-Q, eleven seconds later.

First stage powered flight lasted two minutes and fifty six seconds, ending in Main Engine Cutoff, or MECO, when the stage approaches propellant exhaustion.

Two seconds after first stage cutoff, the spent stage was jettisoned with second stage ignition occurring eight seconds after staging.

Performing the first of two planned burns, the second stage burned its Merlin Vacuum engine for five minutes and 44 seconds to establish a 953 by 174 kilometre (108 by 592 miles, 94 by 515 nautical miles) parking orbit.

Separation of the payload fairing from around the two satellites occurred forty five seconds into second stage flight.

Following the end of the first second stage burn, the mission entered a coast phase until the stage restarts for its second burn at the 25 minute and 52 second mark in the flight.

Lasting 59 seconds, this burn raised the vehicle into its deployment orbit; 408 by 63,928 kilometres (254 by 39,723 miles, 220 by 34,518 nautical miles). Afterwards the rocket reoriented itself for spacecraft separation, with ABS-3A deploying three minutes and 27 seconds after cutoff.

The Eutelsat spacecraft was deployed five minutes after its companion, once the rocket again reoriented itself.

Following separation, the spacecraft will take around eight months to manoeuvre into their final geostationary orbits – this long orbit-raising phase a consequence of the less powerful but more efficient electric propulsion systems they are using.

Upon reaching their final orbital slots the satellites will undergo an on-orbit checkout phase, lasting a few weeks, before entering service.

The fifth launch of 2015 for the United States, it is the eleventh of the year worldwide – including the uncatalogued Vega launch in February whose upper stage reached low Earth orbit after a suborbital primary mission.

A repeat of Sunday’s mission is scheduled for later this year, when another Falcon 9 will orbit the Eutelsat 117 West B and ABS-2A spacecraft.

The next Falcon 9 mission, however, is scheduled for late March, carrying Turkmenistan’s TurkmenÄlem communications satellite.

]]>SpaceX’s Falcon 9 v1.1 has conducted a Static Fire – or Hot Fire – test at Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40 ahead of Sunday’s mission to loft the ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B satellites into orbit. This mission won’t involve a propulsive landing on the company’s ASDS, although it will still provide another milestone for SpaceX – via the first dual passenger launch for the Falcon 9.Static Fire Test:

Preparations for this pad flow began almost immediately after SpaceX’s previous launch from Space Launch Complex -40 (SLC-40) at the Cape.

This was the first time SpaceX had conducted this type of deep space mission.

DSCOVR is currently in good health as it heads out to the Lagrangian point L1 – located between the Sun and the Earth, about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth – which will provide the satellite with an uninterrupted view of the Sun and the Sun-facing disc of the Earth.

The spacecraft is currently at the half way point towards its destination.

SpaceX’s packed manifest requires SLC-40 to be turned around an increased pace, naturally achieved as the successes rack up and experience is built within what is still a relatively young space industry player.

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This test a key processing milestone, a requirement that is used to ensure the pad’s fueling systems – and the rocket – function properly in a fully operational environment.

Numerous requirements have to be successfully proven via such a test, such as the engine ignition and shut down commands, which have to operate as designed, and that the Merlin 1D engines perform properly during start-up.

The vehicle was rolled out of her hanger and erected at 10:30am Eastern on Wednesday, ahead of fueling and the Static Fire – which was conducted at around 2:10pm Eastern.

The data from the test will be fed into the Launch Readiness Review (LRR), which will ultimately confirm the launch date and the window – which is now refined to 22:50 through to 23:32 Eastern- following approval from the Eastern Range.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 has two passengers to loft into space, with the Boeing built Eutelsat 115 West B set to become part of a family of four GEO commercial satellites for the operator.

Based on the BSS-702SP platform, the spacecraft has a launch mass of 4,861 lbs.

The satellite will use its electrical propulsion system to transit from its deployment in the transfer orbit towards its eventual Geostationary Orbit destination.

The other passenger is another communications satellite built by Boeing Satellite Systems and also based on the 702SP platform.

ABS 3A, operated by Asia Broadcasting Satellite (ABS), is destined to replace the ABS 3 satellite launched in 1997. It has a mass of 4,307 lbs.

During this unique mission for SpaceX, the Falcon 9 Second Stage will take over the mission three minutes after launch, via staging with the core stage.

The first firing of the MVac engine (SES-1) will take place 186 seconds into the mission. Shutdown (SECO-1) will take place 530 seconds into flight, ahead of a coast phase.

A second firing of the MVac (SES-2) will take place 1,541 seconds into the mission, cutting off 20 seconds later (SECO-2).

ABS 3A will be the first satellite to bid farewell to the second stage, with separation expected at 1,807 seconds into flight. Eutelsat 115 West B will then wait until its time to set sail, which is expected to be at around the 2,107 second mark into the mission.

]]>Nearly fifteen years after its originally planned launch date, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission has set sail atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday at 18:03 local time. A scrub on Sunday’s was followed by unacceptable Upper Level winds ahead of the second attempt on Tuesday. Wednesday’s conditions were perfect for the launch.DSCOVR Mission:

A partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA and the US Air Force, the Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, is being flown to conduct space weather research with Earth observation as a secondary objective.

Its primary objective is to improve forecasting of geomagnetic storms caused by solar emissions, replacing NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft which was launched in August 1997. DSCOVR is expected to operate for at least five years.

The Solar Wind Plasma Sensor and Magnetometer, or PlasMag, consists of a Faraday cup to trap charged particles, a boom-mounted fluxgate vector magnetometer to measure the magnetic fields at the spacecraft’s location and an electrostatic analyser to compare the distribution function of electrons to the solar wind conditions observed.

The PlasMag instrument continues a series of continuous observations begun by the Explorer 50, or IMP-8, satellite which launched in 1973. The WIND, SOHO and ACE missions launched during the mid-1990s have also contributed to this continuing study of the Sun.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer, or NISTAR, is a cavity radiometer which will be used to monitor the total irradiance of the sunlit face of the Earth.

These observations will allow scientists to study changes in the amount of solar energy retained by the Earth, linked with changes in the planet’s climate.

With an aperture of 30.5 cm (1 foot) the 63.2 kilogram (139 lb) Cassegrain telescope will be used for Earth science research. The satellite also carries a pulse-height analyser to study the effects of high-energy charged particles upon the spacecraft’s electronics.

Conceived as an Earth science and observation satellite, DSCOVR was originally named Triana after sailor Rodrigo de Triana, a member of Christopher Columbus’ expedition who was reputedly the first to see the American continent.

Proposed in 1998 by US Vice President Al Gore, one of the mission’s original objectives would have been to raise climate awareness by broadcasting a live view of the Earth from space via the EPIC instrument.

The Triana satellite was intended to have been deployed from the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2001; however delays in developing the satellite resulted in it missing this launch opportunity.

The mission was subsequently cancelled, in part due to political changes following the election of George W. Bush as President in 2000.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 was introduced in 2013 to replace the configuration – known retrospectively as the v1.0 – which was used for the first five launches.

Compared to its predecessor it features lengthened first and second stages and an octagonal first-stage engine arrangement – called an Octaweb by SpaceX – replacing the square grid layout used on the earlier flights. These changes have allowed SpaceX to increase the rocket’s payload capacity.

For the launch, the Falcon 9 will fly from SpaceX’s east coast site, Space Launch Complex 40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The pad, which was formerly used by Titan III and IV rockets, has supported all but one of the Falcon 9 missions to date – the exception being the launch of the Canadian CASSIOPE satellite, which took place from the west coast pad, Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The launch operations begin ten hours in advance of the planned liftoff, when the Falcon is powered up in preparation for her flight.

Fuelling begins around three hours before launch with the loading of the RP-1 propellant that is burned by both the first and second stages of the rocket.

In both stages this propellant is oxidised by liquid oxygen (LOX); loading of this oxidiser begins around twenty five minutes into the fuelling process with initial tanking of both propellant and oxidiser completed about ninety minutes before liftoff.

The LOX tanks continue to be topped up as the countdown progresses in order to replace oxygen which boils off.

At around the ten minute mark the launch countdown entered its terminal phase, during which time control of launch operations will follow an automated sequence, later transferred to the rocket’s onboard computers.

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About four minutes and forty seconds before liftoff the Strongback, used to hold the rocket during transport to the launch pad, support it during erection and operations on the pad and to provide umbilical interfaces, is retracted.

Arming of the rocket’s flight termination – or self-destruct – system takes place at the three minute and fifteen second mark in the countdown.

This system will enable the Eastern Range’s Range Safety Officer (RSO) to destroy the vehicle if he believes it poses a danger to populated areas – for example if control of the rocket is lost.

The final approvals for launch are usually given by the Launch Director and Range Control Officer, at the T-150 second and T-120 second marks in the countdown respectively.

With the countdown going to plan, the rocket proceeded to the one minute mark for the onboard computer to be commanded to conduct its final pre-launch checks and enter the correct mode for launch.

Around this time the launch pad’s water deluge system was activated. Forty seconds before launch the rocket’s propellant tanks were increased to flight pressure.

SCRUBS:

During Sunday’s first attempt, a scrub was called during the terminal count, due to issues involving the Range Radar, along with a transmitter issue. An attempt on Monday was called off well in advance due to a very poor weather forecast. This proved to be a good decision, as the Space Coast was pummelled by heavy rain.

Tuesday’s realigned attempt suffered from no technical issues, and enjoyed a good weather outlook.

However, the upper level winds were classed as red throughout the count, leaving controllers with a decision to make based on the final weather balloon data. That data showed the winds continued to be unacceptable, resulting in a scrub being called.

The next attempt will take place on Wednesday, aiming for a T-0 of 6:03 pm local time.

Lifting off, the Falcon began a series of roll, pitch and yaw manoeuvres to attain the correct launch azimuth for its planned deployment orbit.

The rocket attained a speed of Mach 1 a little after 70 seconds into its flight, passing through the area of maximum dynamic pressure ten seconds later.

First stage flight lasted around two minutes and 40 seconds, with the stage ending its burn prior to depletion in order to conserve fuel for a landing attempt – albeit not on the barge in the Atlantic.

The relatively low mass of the DSCOVR payload allowed for this fuel to be conserved since the satellite does not require the rocket’s maximum performance to achieve orbit.

First stage separation occurred approximately four seconds after cutoff, with the second stage igniting its Merlin Vacuum engine eight seconds later.

The second stage conducted two firings during the launch; the first to establish a parking orbit and the second to boost DSCOVR into its deployment orbit. Separation of the payload fairing from around the satellite occurred thirty to forty seconds after the second stage ignites.

The second stage’s first burn lasted approximately five minutes and fifty seconds, after which the mission entered a twenty-one and a half minute coast phase.

A fifty-eight second burn following the coast injected DSCOVR into its initial deployment orbit, with spacecraft separation occurring four minutes after the conclusion of powered flight.

The planned parameters for the target orbit are a perigee of 187 kilometres (116 miles, 101 nautical miles), an apogee of 1,241,000 km (833,300 miles, 724,100 nautical miles) and inclination of 37 degrees.

DSCOVR will manoeuvre itself to its final destination; a lissajous orbit around the L1 Lagrangian point between the Earth and the Sun. The spacecraft is expected to take about 110 days to reach the L1 point.

Lagrangian points are positions at which the combined gravity of two bodies – in the case the Earth and the Sun – act on the orbit of a third body in such a way to keep it in the same position relative to both other bodies.

The L1 point is located between the Sun and the Earth, about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth, providing a satellite with an uninterrupted view of the Sun and the Sun-facing disc of the Earth.

However, due to storm conditions in the Atlantic, no landing will be attempted on the ASDS. Instead, a soft landing on the ocean – with little chance of recovering the stage, will be the goal for Wednesday’s attempt.

]]>SpaceX will conduct a second attempt at landing a Falcon 9 v1.1 core stage on to its Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) next month, during its primary mission of lofting the DSCOVR spacecraft to orbit. With stunning footage of the first attempt – during the CRS-5 mission – showing how close the core stage came to nailing the landing, the next propulsive return will aim to go one stage further.
Returning A Core To A Barge:

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After the second stage has taken over the mission, tasked with pushing the passenger spacecraft en route to the required orbital destination, the core stage has successfully proved its ability to rotate, point the aft into the direction of travel and execute a boost back/reentry burn using three of the nine engines.

Outfitted with thrusters, repurposed from deep sea oil rigs, the platform is able to hold position to within three meters, even in a storm.

This debut attempt to land on the ASDS was always going “sporty”, with SpaceX supremo Elon Musk classing the odds of successfully landing at 50 percent or less.

“Close, but no cigar. This time,” noted Mr. Musk in reviewing the video footage of the core’s debut try, as the stage, with the center engine burning and landing legs deployed, made a valiant attempt to land on the ASDS.

As noted shortly after the event, the stage returned with too much velocity and lost some of its required stability due to the grid fins running out of hydraulic fluid right before landing – although they worked “extremely well from hypersonic velocity to subsonic”.

The next core – set to be involved with the launch of the DSCOVR spacecraft – will learn from the CRS-5 rocket, with Mr. Musk noting “Upcoming flight already has 50 percent more hydraulic fluid, so should have plenty of margin for landing attempt.”

The date has moved a few days from its previous slot, with the Static Fire – shown to be scheduled for January 24 – along with the passing of the Launch Readiness Review (LRR) required before the launch date is finally set in stone. The Static Fire is likely to slip to later in the month, or into February, based on the latest launch date target.

DSCOVR is a partnership between NOAA, NASA and the US Air Force, with the mission providing real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities for the NOAA’s space weather alerts and forecasts.

Formerly known as Triana, the spacecraft was originally conceived in the late 1990s as a NASA Earth science mission. However, Triana was cancelled and the satellite went into storage in 2001, before the NOAA funded NASA to remove DSCOVR from storage at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 2008.

NASA inspected the instruments, tested the mechanisms, provided new electrical components and conducted environmental tests of the observatory.

The spacecraft’s ultimate destination will be the first sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1), located 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) sunward from Earth, a neutral gravity point between Earth and the sun.

The spacecraft will be orbiting this point in a six-month orbit with a spacecraft-Earth-sun angle varying between 4 and 15 degrees.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) is the other DSCOVR NASA instrument, a cavity radiometer designed to measure the reflected and emitted energy (in the 0.2 to 100 micron range) from the entire sunlit face of Earth.

While SpaceX will likely provide similar odds for the successful landing and recovery of the Falcon 9 core from the DSCOVR flight, the hope will be for the ASDS to sail back to the coast with the core secured on its deck.

Recent information notes that the rocket will be “tied down” via chains that extend from the engine section to the deck.

Once SpaceX has achieved this major milestone – be it on the DSCOVR or a future mission – the advancements won’t stop there.

Mr. Musk has already noted that he wishes to refly a returned stage in the not too distant future, while use of the ASDS could involve refueling the core on the ship, before it then hops off and flies back to land on its own.

]]>SpaceX’s CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon has been captured and berthed by the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday morning, earlier than planned. While a large amount of attention has been focused on the near-success of the first landing of a returning core stage on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, the primary aim of the mission was always Dragon’s delivery an array of cargo to the orbital outpost.CRS-5:

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Dragon herself would be forgiven for wondering why the the eyes of the space flight community were soon focused on the Atlantic Ocean, following her successful foray into Low Earth Orbit. However, that was somewhat understandable, as another Falcon 9 v1.1 core stage conducted a propulsive return to Earth.

SpaceX is understood to have gained some video footage from the event and may release it publicly in time.

Meanwhile, Dragon merrily continued her orbital journey, conducting numerous burns to position herself for Monday’s arrival, with her propulsion system - a set of four “quads” of thrusters – successfully completing a priming phase, ahead of bringing the thruster systems up to operation via the pressurizing the fuel tanks and injection of gaseous helium.

The first burn completed was the coelliptic (CE) burn, with the 350 second firing resulting in a change of velocity of 96 mph.

An “Out Of Plane” burn was followed by the first Height Adjustment burn (HA1), with the 218 second firing resulting in a 34 mph change to the velocity.

Another coelliptic burn (CE1) was followed by two shorter burns, as Dragon chased down the ISS.

The arrival into the ISS’ back yard involved a whole series of thruster firings, each taking her closer to the station; holding at distances of 2,500, 1,200, 250, 30 and 10 meters, before finally being grappled by the Canadarm2 Remote Manipulator System, and attached to the nadir port of the Harmony module.

The initial series of finite maneuvers brought Dragon to just 2.5 km below ISS. A Go/No-Go was performed for the HA2/CE2 burn pair bringing Dragon to 1.2 km below ISS.

The HA3/CE3 burn pair, using RGPS and configured with the ISS’ own GPS system, was conducted, followed by the HA4 (Ai) burn, taking Dragon inside the corridor where the crew began to monitor the spacecraft’s approach.

The CUCU provides a bi-directional, half-duplex communications link between Dragon and ISS using existing ISS UHF Space to Space Station Radio (SSSR) antennas, which provides a communication path between MCC-X (SpaceX) and Dragon during proximity operations and a command security between ISS and Dragon.

This is a hugely important capability that protects the Station from being impacted by a misbehaving visitor.

With the ISS’ thrusters inhibited and Dragon confirmed to be in free drift, the arm’s LEE was translated over the Grapple Fixture (GF) pin on Dragon to trigger the capture sequence ahead of pre-berthing.

Capture was expected to occur at around 11:12 GMT. However, due to Dragon being ahead of the timeline, approval was given to capture her much earlier than planned at 10:54 GMT.

The Dragon, secured by the SSRMS, was then be carefully translated to the pre-install set-up position, 3.5 meters away from the Station’s module, allowing for the crew to take camcorder and camera footage of the vehicle through the Node 2 windows.

This footage will be downlinked to the ground for engineers to evaluate the condition of the Dragon spacecraft.

The SSRMS was then be translated to the second pre-install position, at a distance of 1.5 meters out.

Desats were inhibited prior to the translation of the Dragon into Common Berthing Module (CBM) interface to begin the securing of the spacecraft to the ISS.

A “Go” at this point was marked by all four Ready To Latch (RTL) indicators providing confirmation on the RWS panel.

As has been seen with previous Dragon arrivals – and indeed new additions to the Station itself – the spacecraft will be put through first stage capture tasks, allowing the SSRMS to go limp, ahead of second stage capture that officially mark Dragon’s berthing with the ISS at 13;56 GMT.

Berthing operations were completed around two hours after the initial grapple.

With all of the ISS berthing milestones part of the pre-planned schedule, the ISS crew then decided when to open the hatch to the Dragon, which can vary depending on the allowances in the crew’s timeline.

This was conducted over the following 12 hours, with unpacking operations beginning on Tuesday morning.

]]>SpaceX successfully conducted a second attempt to launch its Falcon 9 rocket, tasked with sending the CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Launch took place on Saturday at 4:47 am local, which included an attempt to land the first stage of the rocket on a floating platform – which was not a complete success.

SpaceX CRS-5:

The seventh flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, the mission is CRS-5, the fifth of twelve under the initial Commercial Resupply Services contract which SpaceX was awarded in 2008.

Riding atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon will deliver 2,317 kilograms (5,108 lb) of cargo to the International Space Station. After spending around a month berthed at the station, Dragon will return to Earth under parachute for recovery in the Pacific Ocean.

The cargo aboard the Dragon includes 490 kilograms (1080 lb) of personal care equipment and provisions for the space station’s crew, 717 kilograms (1,581 lb) of space station hardware totalling 678 kg (1,495 lb) for the US and Japanese parts of the station and 39 kg (86 lb) for the Russian segment, 16 kilograms (35 lb) of computer equipment and 23 kilograms (51 lb) of hardware for EVAs.

A total of 577 kilograms (1,272 lb) of scientific hardware is being carried within the Dragon capsule, while the 494-kilogram (1,089 lb) Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) experiment is flying in the unpressurised Trunk section of the spacecraft. This will be attached to the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo, and will be used to study particulates in the Earth’s atmosphere.

CATS uses a Lidar instrument, consisting of a laser which is directed at the Earth’s surface allowing backscattered light to be analysed.

The primary objectives of the mission are to measure the altitude distribution of aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere and to collect data to help improve climate models. It follows on from the CALIPSO satellite, launched in April 2006, which forms part of the A-train constellation.

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Other scientific payloads being carried aboard the Dragon include a host of bioscience experiments. One will study cell regeneration in flatworms in microgravity, while another – the Fruit Fly Lab, or ISS Drosophila Experiment – will analyse changes in fruit flies’ immune systems in the space environment.

The Micro 5 experiment will study the immune response of roundworm species Caenorhabditis elegans when exposed to salmonella typhimurium during long-duration flight, while the NanoRacks Self-Assembly in Biology and the Origin of Life (SABOL) will study the growth of amyloid fibrils in microgravity.

Several small satellites will also be carried aboard the Dragon for deployment from the ISS. These include a pair of Flock-1d’ satellites rapidly assembled to replace some of the spacecraft lost in a launch failure of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket last October.

Flock-1 satellites are three-unit CubeSats operated by Planet Labs for commercial Earth imaging from low orbits. The satellites have short operational lifespans and typically decay from orbit around six months after launch.

Brazil’s AESP-14 single-unit CubeSat is also aboard the Dragon. The satellite, developed by Brazil’s Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), will be used to study plasma bubbles in the ionosphere.

The SERPENS satellite, a three-unit spacecraft operated by a group of Brazilian universities, is also believed to be aboard the mission. This spacecraft will be used for technology development, testing communications systems in orbit.

CRS-5 was launched by SpaceX using their Falcon 9 rocket, which made its fourteenth flight. It was the ninth time the vehicle has flown in the v1.1 configuration, which is now used for all launches.

The Falcon 9 is currently the only rocket operated by SpaceX – its smaller Falcon 1 was retired following five launches in favour of flying smaller satellites as secondary payloads on the Falcon 9, while the larger Falcon Heavy remains under development.

SpaceX, which was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, conducted its first launch in March 2006 when a Falcon 1 failed to reach orbit with the US Air Force Academy’s FalconSat-2 spacecraft.

The Falcon 1’s first success came at the fourth attempt in September 2008, with a further successful launch in 2009 orbiting a Malaysian earth imaging satellite, RazakSat.

The Falcon 9 first flew in June 2010, carrying the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit, a payload simulator intended to verify the performance of the rocket with a Dragon spacecraft aboard. The next mission in December of the same year orbited the first functional Dragon, with the first mission to the International Space Station taking place in May 2012.

Liftoff took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a former Titan launch pad which was converted for SpaceX’s use in 2008.

The complex had previously been used by Titan IIIC, 34D, Commercial Titan III and Titan IV vehicles, from the maiden flight of the Titan IIIC in 1965 to the penultimate Titan IV launch in 2005.

SpaceX first used the pad for the Falcon 9’s maiden flight, with all but one of the rocket’s missions to date using the pad. SpaceX’s other Falcon 9 pad, Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, is also a former Titan IV facility and is used for launches towards higher-inclination orbits.

In preparation for launch, the Dragon spacecraft was powered up twenty eight hours before the scheduled liftoff.

Powerup of the Falcon 9 occurred at the ten hour mark in the countdown. Fuelling operations on the rocket began three hours before launch when RP-1 propellant was loaded into the vehicle, with liquid oxygen loading beginning around twenty five minutes later.

Fuelling was completed by around the ninety minute mark in the count, although the oxidiser tanks continued to be topped up until shortly before liftoff as the liquid oxygen boils off.

The terminal phase of the countdown began at the ten minute mark, while operations to retract the Strongback structure that is used to erect the rocket on its pad and houses the umbilicals which support it throughout the countdown, began around the four minute and forty second mark.

The Flight Termination System (FTS), which will be used to destroy the rocket in the event of an anomaly, was switched to internal power about three and a quarter minutes before launch and armed at the three minute mark.

The Launch Director was to give his final go for launch two and a half minutes before the end of the countdown, with the Range Control Officer confirming that the range is clear to support launch with two minutes left until liftoff. However, during Monday’s attempt, this call was slightly delayed, ahead of a scrub being called.

The issue was noted as actuator drift – possibly due to air in the system – on the Upper Stage TVC system, which required resolution – in the form of a replacement – ahead of the next launch attempt, set to take place on Saturday.

All went to plan during Saturday’s attempt, however, as the first stage’s nine Merlin-1D engines ignited three seconds before launch, with liftoff occurring once the countdown reached zero.

The Falcon began its ascent to orbit, manoeuvring to the necessary trajectory for Dragon to rendezvous with the International Space Station. About seventy seconds after liftoff the rocket reached the speed of sound, and shortly afterwards it passed through the area of maximum dynamic pressure.

The first stage burned for 157 seconds, with main engine cutoff followed four seconds later by stage separation.

The second stage, powered by a single Merlin engine optimised for operation in a vacuum, ignited eight seconds after staging for its first and only burn of the mission. Around forty seconds into second stage flight the protective nosecone of the Dragon spacecraft was jettisoned.

The second stage burned for six minutes and thirty eight seconds to inject Dragon into low Earth orbit. Following the end of its burn the vehicle coasted for thirty five seconds before spacecraft separation at ten minutes and two seconds mission elapsed time.

Around a minute after separation the Dragon deployed its solar arrays. Its instrument bay door, used by its guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system were opened at around the two hour, 20 minute mark in the mission, after which the spacecraft will begin a series of burns to raise its orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Arrival will see the spacecraft positioning itself ten metres away from the space station for capture by the CanadArm2 remote manipulator system.

The Dragon will be berthed at the nadir of the Harmony module for around a month, after which it will be unberthed using CanadArm2 and the spacecraft will be deorbited.

The trunk section will burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry, while the capsule will land in the Pacific Ocean under parachute. Ahead of its departure the spacecraft will be loaded with 1,662 kilograms (3,664 lb) of cargo to be returned to Earth.

The demonstration followed successful tests during two previous launches where the first stage has been guided to a controlled water landing, however the stage has not been recoverable on either previous attempt.

Achieving a precision landing on a floating platform is an important milestone for SpaceX as they attempt to demonstrate their planned flyback recovery of the first stage of the Falcon 9. The company eventually hopes to make the first stage reusable, flying back to an onshore landing pad at Cape Canaveral.

However, the stage did not survive its landing, despite achieving its target. Mr. Musk confirmed the stage did reach the platform, but did hit it “hard” – likely resulting in the stage exploding.

The launch was the first of 2015 worldwide. Following on from a year in which SpaceX conducted six successful launches, the Dragon mission heads up a 2015 manifest which could consist of over fifteen flights for the Falcon 9.

While parts of the schedule are far from set in stone and it is extremely unlikely that all of these missions will fly this year, SpaceX have every chance of improving on last year’s total – the most launches they have conducted in a single year to date – and could reach double figures.

The next Falcon launch will be attempted at the end of January, orbiting the Deep Space Climate Observatory for America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This will be followed in February with the deployment of a pair of communications satellites – Eutelsat 115 West B and ABS-3A, in a single launch from Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX’s first launch of the year from Vandenberg is currently scheduled for late March, carrying the Jason-3 satellite for the NOAA and EUMETSAT.

Other launches slated for 2015 include a single launch with another eleven satellites for Orbcomm, Israel’s Amos 6 communications satellite, a SAOCOM Earth observation satellite for Argentina. Launches of communications satellites for Turkmenistan, SES of Luxembourg, JSAT of Japan, a further dual launch of Eutelsat and ABS spacecraft and two clusters of Iridium spacecraft are also reported to be pencilled in during the year.

]]>The next Falcon 9 v1.1 set to launch out of Florida’s Cape Canaveral has been rescheduled for January 6. The original plan was to launch the rocket on Friday, before an issue with the Static Fire test earlier in the week resulted in a technical and schedule discussion, with numerous considerations – such as the ISS’ high beta angle constraint – ultimately moving the launch date to the first week of the new year.

Numerous requirements have to be successfully proven via such a test, such as the engine ignition and shut down commands, which have to operate as designed, and that the Merlin 1D engines perform properly during start-up.

The Static Fire also provides a dress rehearsal for the actual launch, with controllers first conducting a poll to allow for the loading of Falcon 9’s RP-1 propellant with liquid oxygen oxidizer two hours and thirty five minutes before T-0. From that point, the test is near-identical to a real launch day countdown.

Ensuring Falcon 9’s SLC-40 pad systems are in good shape during a Static Fire – also known as a hot fire – flow mitigates the potential for issues during the countdown on launch day.

Only a short burst of the Merlin 1D engines on the core stage of the F9 is required to allow for the validation data to be gained on the health of the vehicle and pad systems.

Attempts during the four hour test window on Tuesday did not result in a successfully conducted – or fully completed – Static Fire.

Although the company, which usually confirms a successful Static Fire shortly after it has been completed, did not immediately respond to inquires into the status of the flow, numerous sources began to note a slip was under consideration.

January 6 was a date provided to NASASpaceFlight.com on Wednesday afternoon, although this remained unofficial throughout the day.

However, the company did promise to provide more information to this site when “they have something to share.”

On Thursday morning, SpaceX followed through on that promise, confirming the slip and explaining the issue surrounding the Static Fire came after the ignition of the Merlin 1D engines – which explains why at least one outlet believed the test had been successful – but not for their full test duration, pointing to an early shutdown/abort.

“While the recent static fire test accomplished nearly all of our goals, the test did not run the full duration,” noted SpaceX spokeman John Talyor to NASASpaceFlight.com.

“The data suggests we could push forward without a second attempt, but out of an abundance of caution, we are opting to execute a second static fire test prior to launch.”

“Given the extra time needed for data review and testing, coupled with the limited launch date availability due to the holidays and other restrictions, our earliest launch opportunity is now Jan. 6 with Jan. 7 as a backup,” added Mr. Talyor.

“The ISS orbits through a high beta angle period a few times a year. This is where the angle between the ISS orbital plane and the sun is high, resulting in the ISS being in almost constant sunlight for a 10 day period.

“During this time, there are thermal and operational constraints that prohibit Dragon from being allowed to berth with the ISS. This high beta period runs from 12/28/14-1/7/15. Note that for a launch on 1/6, Dragon berths on 1/8.”

UPDATE: The Falcon 9 v1.1 returned to her SLC-40 pad on Thursday for another Static Fire attempt before the end of the week. This test – which was successfully conducted on Friday – will allow for the collation of additional data to aid troubleshooting efforts.

The CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon will be lofting her usual compliment of cargo and supplies to the ISS, along with a number of specific payloads.

]]>The mystery behind the “floating platform” – set to welcome home a returning Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage – has been solved via a series of fascinating comments by SpaceX’s Elon Musk. Known as the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, the ocean faring platform will be the new propulsive landing target for a Falcon 9, possibly as soon as the CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon mission in December.

SpaceX noted that this test vehicle was always going to push the boundaries in more ways than one, placing emphasis on the rocket science mantra of “this is why we test”.

“So we’re (100 percent) testing on the Grasshopper. But, that means we’re not pushing hard enough. We’ve got to tunnel one of those vehicle into the ground by trying something really hard,” noted SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in 2013.

“So now our challenge to our test team is you’ve got to push hard enough that we’re going to see something happen. A spectacular video.”

More testing, via the new F-9R Dev-2 – which underwent validation testing on the tripod stand in September, per L2’s McGregor Update Section – is expected to begin soon, before she moves for higher altitude testing at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“The current plan is to continue testing in Texas with F-9R Dev-2 and then move to New Mexico when we transition to higher altitude tests,” noted SpaceX Spokesman John Taylor to NASASpaceFlight.com recently.

Since the move to the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1, with her more powerful Merlin 1D engines, SpaceX has been working through the objectives to safely return the core stage back to Earth via a propulsive landing on to the ocean surface.

These returns involve numerous milestones, all occurring after the core stage has completed its primary role of lofting the second stage and passenger on their way towards their orbital destination.

The events begin shortly after staging, with the first stage booster rotating 180 degrees via Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, prior to the re-ignition of three of the booster’s nine Merlin 1D engines.

“(It involves) a reentry burn and then a landing burn with the Falcon 9 first stage. For the first burn, we relight three engines to do a supersonic retro propulsion burn to slow the vehicle down and help ensure it survives atmospheric reentry,” SpaceX’s Emily Shanklin explained to NASASpaceFlight.com earlier this year.

“Assuming successful reentry, SpaceX relight the center engine to stabilize the stage and reduce the vehicle’s velocity prior to contact with the water. About 10 seconds into the landing burn, SpaceX demonstrates successful deployment of the legs in preparation for future land landings.”

The goal of a propulsive return and soft landing on the ocean surface – since aided with refinements to the control thrusters and the addition of fins for stability – has since been achieved successfully, although a stage has yet to be recovered.

Recovery from the unforgiving Atlantic ocean was always classed as unlikely. However, that may soon change.

SpaceX has been planning to return a core stage to a landing platform, first thought to be a barge of sorts, for some time. It was first mentioned by Ms. Shotwell, before Mr. Musk expanded on what it would look like.

“That looks very tiny from space, and the leg span of the rocket is 60 feet,” he added at the MIT event, “and this is going to be positioning itself out in the ocean with engines that will try to keep it in a particular position – but it’s tricky, you’ve got to deal with these big rollers and GPS errors.”

Mr. Musk classes the odds of successfully landing on the platform at 50 percent or less for the first attempt.

The ship is more than just a floating platform, with Mr. Musk noting it has been outfitted with thrusters, repurposed from deep sea oil rigs, allowing for the platform to hold position to within three meters, even in a storm.

The company behind the platform’s thrusters – aptly named “Thrustmaster” – noted the utilization of four “thrustmaster mini-skid hydraulic propulsion outdrive units with individual diesel-hydraulic power units”.

Thrustmaster added its patented Portable Dynamic Positioning System is “a unique modular system of azimuth thrusters, power modules and controls”.

Landing a core stage on the platform would be a major achievement. However, Mr. Musk appears to have yet more plans for the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship.

“Will allow (for) refuel and rocket flyback in future,” he added to the unveiling of the ship.

While that fascinating detail hasn’t yet been expanded on, it suggests a plan – or at least the option – to land stages on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, refuel and then allow them to make the hop back to land. This would also show the additional value of the continued testing with F-9R Dev-2.

Returning a stage to an Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship positioned downrange of Vandenberg, allowing it to refuel and make the “hop” back to the West coast would become a potential solution.

However, this is all for the future. The upcoming effort to land a Falcon 9 v1.1 core stage on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship would be the next step in an exciting future where rockets can extend their lives and ultimately bring down costs.

]]>SpaceX has launched the second Dragon mission of 2014, with a Falcon 9 v1.1 lofting the cargo spacecraft into orbit on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Following a weather-related scrub on Saturday morning, liftoff from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral occurred without issue at 1:52am Eastern early on Sunday.CRS-4:

It was the company’s sixth launch of the year, doubling the number they achieved in 2013, their previous record year for launches.

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is a recoverable unmanned logistics spacecraft designed to deliver both pressurised and unpressurised cargo to the space station.

Developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Dragon was awarded twelve missions to carry supplies to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program.

Prior to this launch Dragon had completed two COTS demonstration missions and three operational CRS flights.

The Dragon which was carried into orbit by this mission, SpaceX CRS-4, is the sixth Dragon mission and the second of the year.

CRS-3, the previous mission, launched in mid-April and spent a month in orbit before a successful recovery in May. It is the fifth Dragon mission to the International Space Station.

Dragon is part of a varied array of ships used to deliver supplies to the ISS. Russia’s Progress spacecraft, which was originally developed to serve the Soviet Union’s Salyut 6 space station in 1978, has made the majority of unmanned supply missions to the outpost, but since 2008 they have been joined by an international fleet of supply vehicles.

Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has made five supply missions, with the final craft, Georges Lamaitre, currently docked at the outpost. Japan’s Kounotori, or HTV, spacecraft has made four missions and launches are continuing.

The United States’ contribution to the program is a pair of commercial spacecraft, of which the Dragon is one member. The other, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus, was also developed under the COTS program and has been awarded eight CRS missions, of which it has already completed two.

The Dragon can transport up to 3,310 kilograms (7,300 lb) each of pressurised and unpressurised cargo into orbit, and return up to 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb) of pressurised cargo to Earth at the end of its mission.

The spacecraft consists of two sections, a pressurised capsule which returns to Earth, and an unpressurised trunk section which is jettisoned prior to reentry and will be destroyed when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

For this launch, a total mass of 2,216 kilograms (4,885 lb) of cargo is aboard the Dragon. Of this, 1,627 kilograms (3587 lb) is pressurised while the remaining 589 kilograms (1298 lb) is accounted for by NASA’s RapidScat instrument, an ocean research payload to be mounted on the outside of the space station’s Columbus module.

The scientific experiments being carried include a low-temperature 3D printer intended to demonstrate whether replacement components for the space station could be produced in orbit when required, bioscience research payloads studying the effects of microgravity on the growth of seedlings, the behaviour of fruit flies and the bone density of twenty mice.

Ten of these mice will be returned to Earth at the end of the Dragon’s mission, with the remainder following on a later flight.

Other payloads include Cyclops, a new dispenser for deploying small satellites from the station, an experiment to find ways to improve techniques for feeding astronauts and a materials research experiment.

The RapidScat instrument will be used to collect wind velocity data over regions of ocean on the Earth’s surface. It replaces the SeaWinds instrument on NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite, which failed in 2009.

Built as an interim spacecraft following the loss of a NASA-operated instrument on Japan’s Midori satellite in 1997, QuikSCAT was launched by a Titan II rocket in June 1999 and was intended for a two year mission to ensure continuity of data until a permanent replacement could be constructed. Instead, the satellite was NASA’s front line ocean monitoring satellite for ten years.

RapidScat was built from an engineering backup of the SeaWinds instrument constructed as part of the QuikSCAT program. NASA currently expects it to operate attached to the International Space Station for two years.

A small satellite is also being carried aboard the Dragon in order to be deployed from the space station.

The Special Purpose Inexpensive Satellite (SPINSat) will be used by the US Naval Research Laboratory and Space Test Program to study thruster operation and provide a target for tracking and atmospheric drag experiments. The satellite will be deployed using the Cyclops system via an airlock in the Kibo module of the station.

A two-stage vehicle, the Falcon’s first stage is powered by nine Merlin-1D engines arranged in an octagonal, or ‘Octaweb’ formation with eight of the engines clustered around the ninth in the centre of the stage.

The engines burn RP-1 propellant, oxidised by liquid oxygen. With nine engines on the first stage, the Falcon is designed to offer an engine-out capability allowing it to make orbit even in the event of an engine failure.

This capability was called into use during the type’s fourth launch, which carried the CRS-1 spacecraft.

Despite the failure of a first stage engine eighty seconds into the mission the rocket was still able to deploy its Dragon payload for a successful mission to the ISS, however the launch as a whole was a partial failure as a second payload, an Orbcomm communications satellite, could not be placed into its target orbit and reentered the atmosphere shortly after launch.

The second stage of the Falcon 9 is powered by a single Merlin, which is optimised for performance in Vacuum conditions. Using the same propellant mixture as the first stage, the second stage will complete the Dragon’s ascent into orbit after the first stage boosts it out of the atmosphere.

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The launch used the Falcon 9 v1.1 configuration, which features elongated first and second stages compared to the earlier configuration which has become known retrospectively as the v1.0.

The v1.1, which has been used from the sixth flight onwards, also introduced the octagonal engine arrangement in place of the square used on previous flights, and the Merlin-1D in place of less powerful Merlin-1C powerplants.

The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A former Titan launch pad, SLC-40 was constructed in the 1960s for the Titan IIIC, seeing subsequent use by the Titan III(34)D, Commercial Titan III and Titan IV rockets.

Following the last Titan launch from Cape Canaveral in April 2005 the pad was mothballed, and its towers were demolished in 2008 to make way for the Falcon 9’s Clean Pad complex.

The final countdown towards launch began with the Falcon being powered on Friday, ten hours in advance of liftoff – and again on Saturday for the Sunday attempt. The Dragon had already been powered up sixteen hours previously to begin its own final preparations.

Fuelling of the Falcon began at the four hour mark in the countdown with the commencement of propellant tanking. Oxidiser loading began forty minutes later, with propellant and initial oxidiser loading completed five minutes later. Topping off of the oxidiser tanks continued throughout the countdown as the liquid oxygen boils off.

The terminal countdown began ten minutes before liftoff, with the Falcon entering its automated sequence. The Dragon followed suit at the six minute mark.

The Strongback structure, used to erect the vehicle at the pad and support it during preparations for liftoff began to be retracted from the vehicle at around T-4 minutes, 40 seconds and the Flight Termination System switched to internal power with three and a quarter minutes to go – the system was armed 15 seconds later.

The final ‘go’ calls for launch was given by the Launch Director and Range Control Officer, at approximately 150 and 120 seconds before launch respectively.

The rocket switched to internal control and entered startup configuration sixty seconds before liftoff. In the final minute of the countdown the rocket performed its final automated checkout, with tank pressurisation also completed. The launch pad’s water sound suppression system, or Niagara, was activated around this time.

Ignition of the nine first stage engines occurred at T-3 seconds, with the engines building up thrust and undergoing checkout in the three seconds before liftoff occurred at T-0.

After clearing the tower the Falcon transitioned to put the Dragon on course for its rendezvous with the International Space Station, reaching the speed of sound after seventy seconds and also passing through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or Max-Q, during the second minute of flight. The first stage burned for 161 seconds before cutting out and separating three seconds later.

Second stage ignition began a six-minute, 48-second burn to reach the Dragon’s deployment orbit. Dragon separated from the Falcon 9 thirty five seconds after the end of the burn; beginning its independent flight ten minutes and fifteen seconds after lifting off.

Shortly after separation the Dragon deployed the solar arrays which will provide it with power throughout the mission.

The spacecraft opened its guidance, navigation and control bay door two and a half hours after launch, and at five hours and twenty three minutes elapsed time it performed a circularisation burn to begin a series of manoeuvres necessary to reach the ISS.

After about a month at the station the Dragon will be loaded with 1,486 kilograms (3,276 lb) of cargo for return to Earth, after which its hatch will be sealed and the RMS will be used to remove it from Harmony and release it back into free flight.

After performing a series of separation manoeuvres, the spacecraft will be deorbited for recovery at sea by SpaceX.

The launch was the nineteenth US launch of 2014 and the fifty-seventh of the year overall.

SpaceX are planning to conduct several more missions before the year’s end, with another Falcon 9 launch with the CRS-5 Dragon mission scheduled for the start of December.

The station is currently commanded by Roskosmos cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, with Gregory Wiseman and Alexander Gerst also aboard the outpost. They will be joined by Aleksandr Samokutyayev, Yelena Serova, and Barry Wilmore with the arrival of TMA-14M, which is expected to occur during the Dragon’s stay at the facility.

(Images: SpaceX, NASA and via L2′s SpaceX Special Section, which includes over 1,000 unreleased hi res images from Dragon’s flights to the ISS.)

]]>Expedition 40 commander Steven Swanson, along with cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, have returned to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft on Wednesday. The trio undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:01pm Eastern, ahead of a landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 10:23pm. Meanwhile, the launch of the next SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has been scheduled for September 20.Soyuz TMA-12M Return:

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The undocking marked the start of Expedition 41, under the command of Max Suraev of Roscosmos. Suraev and his crewmates, Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, will operate the station as a three-person crew for two weeks until the arrival of three new crew members.

NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova are scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, September 26, utilizing the fast-rendezvous flight to the station.

In preparation for that safe trip home, the Soyuz TMA-12M crew donned their Sokol launch and entry suits, closed the hatch between the Orbital Module (BO) and Descent Module (SA), and strapped themselves into their Kazbek couches inside the SA.

Following undocking, the Soyuz enjoyed a few hours of free flight as it departed from the Station’s neighborhood.

The deorbit burn was the next key milestone of the return leg, conducted at 9:31pm Eastern, around one hour ahead of landing.

The Soyuz then eased its way to the ground under parachute, ahead of a landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan.

The next immediate task involved the extraction of the crew from the SA by the Russian recovery forces that will race to the Soyuz’s aid.

The crew were transferred almost immediately to the MI-8 helicopters to a nearby airfield, where the crew will part ways.

Skvortsov and Artemyev will be flown back to Star City, while Swanson will be boarding a NASA Gulfstream III aircraft to be flown back to Ellington Field in Houston, Texas – via two refuelling stops in Glasgow, Scotland, and Goose Bay, Canada.

Dragon Next:

Back on the ISS, the remaining crewmembers will soon have a commercial visitor prior to welcome, ahead of the next Soyuz docking.

SpaceX’s CRS-4/SpX-4 Dragon has been officially scheduled for a September 20 launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral – a surprise move after it was expected the launch would be targeted for the end of the month.

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However, despite SpaceX being in launch action just this past weekend – with the successful ASIASAT-6 mission – the next Falcon 9 v1.1, along with the CRS-4 Dragon spacecraft, had already arrived in Florida, allowing for what will be a record turnaround for the California-based company.

However, source information notes that this next Falcon 9 v1.1 is not sporting landing legs, meaning – if confirmed by SpaceX – the previously touted attempt to land the core stage on a barge will not occur on this mission.

It is understood that this ambitious attempt will now likely take place during the CRS-5/SpX-5 mission.

US EVAs on the ISS are currently postponed until the new batteries arrive on the Station. Two more batteries are set to ride on the next Soyuz.

The requirement to ship replacements to the ISS came after ground testing revealed an issue that resulted in a loss of confidence across the set of batteries currently being used in the operational EMUs.

The Dragon will also be lofting ISS-RapidScat, inside her unpressurized Trunk compartment.

The experiment will be attached to the Station’s Columbus laboratory, via the use of the Station’s robotic assets that are now well-versed in removing and installing hardware from the Dragon’s trunk.

ISS-RapidScat will study the Earth’s ocean surface wind speed and direction, returning a lost capability when the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard NASA’s then 10-year-old QuikScat satellite experienced an age-related antenna failure.